{"id":84302,"date":"2016-01-03T18:26:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T02:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=84302"},"modified":"2023-09-07T03:22:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T11:22:30","slug":"w-va-rabbi-says-trump-is-speaking-to-small-group-of-people-with-muslim-ban-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=84302","title":{"rendered":"W.Va. rabbi says Trump is speaking to \u201csmall group of people\u201d with Muslim ban proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

REPORT<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks of the broader problem that our country always has to fight against and that is ignorance, hatred and xenophobia,\u201d said Rabbi Victor Urecki, longtime rabbi and spiritual leader with the B\u2019nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is speaking to a group of people \u2014 and it\u2019s a small group of people, but they\u2019re very vocal \u2014 that find the stranger is a person to be hated. That\u2019s not the America that I grew up in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urecki was a guest on Tuesday\u2019s MetroNews \u201cTalkline\u201d a day after attending a community meeting involving Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders at the Islamic Center of West Virginia, located in Kanawha County, that was organized to dispel myths about Islam.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people attended the Monday night event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Muslim community has been speaking out. Unfortunately, they do not have a lot of traction in the media because it\u2019s a softer voice, but they do speak out,\u201d Urecki said of efforts to push back against anti-Muslim rhetoric that has intensified in the wake of the San Bernardino, California terrorist attack that left 14 people dead and more than 20 injured.<\/p>\n

On Monday, FBI investigators confirmed Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the two shooters who opened fire last Wednesday at San Bernardino\u2019s Inland Regional Center, had been radicalized \u201cfor quite some time\u201d and were possibly ISIS sympathizers.<\/p>\n

Urecki said he understands very well that the U.S. has its enemies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people that are an enemy, not just to the American way of life, but immigrants which include Muslims who want to be part of the American experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cThe overwhelming number of Muslims are not here to damage this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Jew, Urecki said he\u2019s bothered by the statements now being made about Muslims. \u201cThe same statements that are being said about Muslims were being said about Jews in America in the 1930s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Urecki was born in Argentina and moved to the U.S. in 1965.<\/p>\n

His father grew up in Argentina, one of the few sanctuary countries for Jewish people fleeing from Poland in 1938. At that time, the United States was not an option. Urecki sees parallels to what Syrian refugees seeking refuge are now facing.<\/p>\n

Trump has called for the ban on Muslims entering the U.S. until, \u201cour country\u2019s representatives can figure out what\u2019s going on,\u201d according to a campaign statement. He\u2019d previously proposed surveillance at mosques and the creation of a database of Muslims living in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REPORT: \u201cIt speaks of the broader problem that our country always has to fight against and that is ignorance, hatred and xenophobia,\u201d said Rabbi Victor Urecki, longtime rabbi and spiritual leader with the B\u2019nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston. \u201cHe is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t